Black Cat
by DoraMouse
Summary: Aims to capture a few moments of Raditzs life. I also hope to subtly explain some theories I have about Freezia, Goku and Vegeta. The title of this story will make sense once you read it. 6 parts. Completed.
1. Part One: 737 AD

_Black Cat_

by DoraMouse

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**Part One: 737 A.D.**

Chains creaked. Clinking together in an eerie rhythm that managed to compliment the moans of the dying, the sharp cracks of whips, the wails of the newly enslaved and the hushed thudding sound created by a hundred weary creatures stepping forward together in single file.

The scenary was a perfect match for the noises it produced. Beneath a dark sky the landscape was littered with smoldering rubble and bloody corpses. Haggard citizens marched in neat lines with their heads bowed, the chains that connected them rattling as they marched. From the old to the young, their faces portrayed a blend of painful despair and ambitious defiance. Some of the more injured prisoners limped as they were herded towards the cargo section of a large spaceship.

At intervals, the prisoners would pass a warrior clad in dark blue fabric and white chest armor. These warriors would glare, perhaps barking an order in an alien language or lashing out with a whip. The prisoners would cringe, crying out in protest while struggling to obey the commands that they couldn't understand.

Freezia. His name was the only word that everyone understood without translation. The former residents were aware that their world and their lives were now the property of a powerful and cruel intergalactic tyrant. The mere presence of the uniformed warriors attested to the fact; for in many cases, the uniform was all that the warriors of Freezias Army had in common.

Judging by skin color, hairstyles and other traits - there were warriors from every corner of the universe amid the small group that had captured the planet. One of warriors was a red-skinned orge with long stringy hair. There was a slender fellow that looked as if his ancestors might have been a close relative to the slug, his purpleish skin was dotted with yellow circles and a pair of antenna hung over his eyes. There was a short green warrior with four eyes and a spiked tail, some sort of humanoid lizard. There was a satyr, a creature that was humanoid from the waist up but a goat from the waist down.

There was even a saiyan.

He was a young lad with long dark hair who seemed right at home amid the absolute devastation. He kept his tail wrapped securely around his waist as he picked through the ruins, looking for something that was worth claiming. He tossed a few shiny trinkets aside, knowing full well that anything valuable would be taken by higher ranking warriors. Thus whatever he ended up taking for himself would have to more practical if he expected to be allowed to keep it.

Raditz held up a charred book, watching with mild amusement as the pages crumbled to dust in the strong grasp of his fingers. Once the book had completely dissolved, he sighed and shook the remains of the book off his hands then glanced around in search of further entertainment. He spied a set of oversized clay jugs, slightly cracked and half buried under a slab of stone that, until recently, had served as a wall. With a wicked grin Raditz made his way over to the pottery and easily tossed the section of collasped wall aside. He peered down at the jugs as if trying to decide how to have the most fun destroying them.

Abruptly a pair of round furry ears protruded from the edge of one of the jugs. This was followed quickly by the emergence of a small head and a forepaw as the creature exited the jug that had concealed it. The animal immediately sat down on its haunches, turned its head and began licking the dust out of its dark fur.

Young Raditz was appalled. The animal was right in front of him and yet it wasn't even acting afraid. Apparently it didn't percieve him as a threat. Raditz glared at the creature with intense disapproval. For a moment, the animal stared right back at him with an expression of calm indifference. Then it returned to the pressing task of cleaning its fur, lifting a leg as it did so.

This creature was incredibly stupid or it was extremely brave. Either way, it needed to be taught a lesson. Raditz raised a glowing hand and took aim but the attack never came since his concentration was broken.

"Ah lookit dat wouldya." Drawled one of the other warriors that was scavenging the ruins, pausing to point out the spectacle.

The furry creature was now moving about on all four of its feet, prancing with its tail in the air. It circled Raditz and was rubbing against his ankles each time that it passed him. The effect was that his pants were now coated in dust and strands of fur.

"Hey!" Raditz jumped into the air, scowling down at the creature and trying to get the dust off his uniform. He had to keep the uniform clean for inspection at all times - you could get punished for failing to do so. Unfortunately his attempts to wipe the strands of fur off his pants were only successfull in transferring the fur to his sleeves.

The creature stood calmly to one side now, watching Raditz with two wholly dark eyes that were diamond in shape but rounded at the corners. The animals fur was a shade of inky black and its body was speckled with faint orange markings.

"I think it likes you Raditz!" One of the other warriors teased with just the right sleazy tones to provoke a chorus of gruff mocking laughter.

Raditz felt himself grow red in the cheeks, more with anger than embarrassment. He was torn between wanting to attack the annoying animal and wanting to hurt the other warriors. Of course, he could always do both. Raditz smirked as he lifted the little animal off the ground with the intent of throwing it at his peers.

His vision was instantly filled by an upsidedown pink triangle and several whiskers, apparently the creature had leaned its head forward and was delicately sniffing Raditzs eyebrows. It reached up quickly with its two forepaws and sunk eight little claws into Raditzs skull. He yelped in confusion and surprise, releasing the creature in time to be kicked in the nose by a hind paw while the animal continued to pull itself up.

Raditzs customary scowl deepened. He was aware that the creature was now perched on his head. His peers were laughing so much that they were in danger of injuring themselves.

"Ahem." Someone cleared their throat. The laughing warriors quickly tried to regain their composures. Raditz took a deep breath before turning and saluting.

"Lieutenant!" Raditz managed to keep his tone serious.

The Lieutenant was tall warrior with pale blue skin. His dark green hair was pulled back into a braid and his long bangs were held out of his face by a small ordamental crown which seemed to be made from several pearl necklaces intricately woven together. His pointed ears were decorated by two sets of silver earrings. A permanent smirk was etched into his angular features. "Well, well." Zarbon said casually while lifting the kitten off Raditzs head. "I've always said that saiyans could stand an increase in brain power." He thrust the kitten into Raditzs hands. "Keep it."

Beneath the mask of calm, Raditz was absolutely mortified. This just had to be some sort of scheme to get him in trouble.

An audio speaker roared to life, drowning out all other noise while a familiar five-note signal blarred through the desolate landscape. Every warrior in view winced slightly but not because of the sheer volume of the off-chord melody, they winced because of the tunes meaning. Mere seconds ago they had been arrogant soldiers herding a batch of newly captured slaves but the tune was a command for them, a wordless reminder to all of Freezias minions that they were not as strong as they made themselves out to be. The ugly truth of the matter was that, for the most part, the warriors were slaves themselves - treated better than average but they still had to follow orders.

The signal that had been played was followed by the ominous creaking of each spacecraft loading door being pulled closed. First one then another door would fall closed with a heavy metallic clank followed by the hiss of escaping air as each door was secured and the spacecrafts cargo areas made airtight.

All around, the warriors seemed to heave a collective and silent sigh as they reluctantly trudged towards the upper hatches of the ships. The battle was over, the adrenalin was starting to wear off and survival was no longer an immediate concern. The warriors paused occasionally to stare out at the world with more somber expressions. For many of the soldiers the landscape before them - the darkened sky, the smoldering ruins and the mangled corpses - was a poignant reminder of how they had last seen their own native worlds. Yet no matter how bitter the memories that were invoked, all of the warriors treasured the sight. Because they didn't know when they would see land again, it all depended on what their next assignment was.

Earlier this morning the planet had been called Foetus. Now it was Freezia Planet 2,0378b. In the space of a day, the warriors had conquered the world and enslaved the masses with enough time left over to claim a few trinkets as souvenirs of their victory. Soon an infamous clean up crew - the typical bunch of scavengers, landscapers, lawyers, accountants and real estate agents - would arrive. What the clean up crew didn't steal, they'd burn before remodeling the planet in order to prepare it for sale. Freezia wasn't simply a powerful warrior and a sinister tyrant, he was a merchant of the most extraordinary caliber. He sold worlds. Sometimes entire galaxies. And if any customers ever missed a payment then Freezias Army would reclaim the property.

Freezia didn't necessarily want to rule the universe. No. Freezia was the type of villian who would be content to simply own the deed to the entire universe so that if the mood struck him, he could charge everyone in existance rent and cackle at their shocked reactions to the news.

Raditz fell into pace, deliberately trailing the other warriors as they began to board the spacecraft. He was waiting for an opening, hoping that he could drop the kitten and be rid of it but the opportunity never arose. Eyes always seemed to be upon him. A few of the warriors ahead of him walked backwards, jeering at him in their alien languages. And Zarbon, still smirking as he supervised the external pre-flight checks, would glance in his direction from time to time.

Two thoughts were foremost on Raditzs mind. The first was that no one could keep him from killing the stupid animal. The second and less prominant idea was a vague wondering about how the furball might taste if properly zapped. Raditz squinted at the animal, evaluating its worth as food before he wrinkled his nose. The creature was too small to bother with.

When he stood atop the wireframe steps that lead to the soldiers entrance of the spacecraft, young Raditz quickly stuck his hands out over the railing and released the kitten. "Oops." He said in a harsh tone that lacked any geniune surprise. He waited for a moment.

Silence. There should have been a startled animal cry and a softened thudding noise when the creature impacted. Raditz thought the silence was odd but shrugged it off and stepped up to the doorway which most of his peers were blocking. Raditz didn't understand why they were grinning.

"Dun yu kno anyfing?" The satyr chuckled, speaking with some effort to make himself understood despite his accent.

"Get out of my way." Raditz growled, unamused.

Click. Click, click, click.

The noise made Raditz turn and the sight that accompanied the noise made him jump. It was the sound of tiny claws brushing against metal. There was a little black furball bounding up the stairs towards him. Somehow, the stupid animal had survived the fall. How obnoxious.

"Kitties always land on der feet." Boomed the red-skinned orge, nodding slowly. "Everybody knows dat."

"Well if you know so much about 'kitties'," Raditz snarled, "then you take it!" He lifted the frustating little animal by its neck and held it out but all of the aliens took a step back, holding up their hands, tentacles, hoofs, paws - whatever limbs they had that were equivalent to hands.

"Finders, keepers." Said the humanoid slug warrior as he headed further into the ship.

The green lizard blinked each of its four eyes in turn before muttering. "I'm allergic to fur."

The satyr shook its head, his hoofs tapping against the floor as he walked indoors. "Ye arr a ful."

"Dak kitties be bad luck." Said the ogre.

Raditz arced an eyebrow. Now this was an interesting development. On the one hand, the 'kitty' - whatever the heck a name like that was supposed to imply - was annoying. It's whole attitude and appearance just got on Raditzs nerves. On the other hand, everyone else seemed afraid of it. That could be useful.

"I guess you can stay for now." Raditz told the cat in a low voice as he stepped aboard the ship and walked down a corridor. "Let's get one thing straight though, I'm in charge."

He had pointed at the kitten to emphasize his words but the little animal only responded by playfully batting the air, trying to sink its claws into his finger. Raditz scowled - feeling like an idiot for talking aloud to the animal at all and annoyed in general by its behavior. He plunked the cat onto the floor with the hopes that it would get trampled or lost. Instead the cat kept pace, scampering loyally alongside of Raditz as if he'd known the animal for more than fifteen minutes.

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	2. Part Two: 739 AD

_Black Cat_

by DoraMouse

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**Part Two: 739 A.D.**

It was a cold, narrow room. Barely wide enough for two people to stand beside each other. The floor, ceiling and metallic walls were all dark gray, the edges of each wall outlined by the round tops of the thick steel bolts that held the room together. Seven narrow beds were in the room - three mounted on left wall, three mounted on the right wall and one on the wall that faced the doorway. The vertical mattresses were thin, in most cases the wall behind the bed was visible through the patches of worn padding. The ceiling supported a single light fixture and two wide square air vents. The walls had several smaller rectangular vents around each bed.

The beds each held one warrior that was currently in an induced state of deep sleep.

It was a hibernation room - clean, cold and devoid of any decoration. The simple fact of the matter was that Freezia was a businessman. He sold planets with the intention of coming out ahead. The less money and effort he had to invest in a venture, the easier it would be for him to make a profit. So corners were cut here and there to make things more affordable, more profitable. The spaceships weren't always made of the best material, the pilots and doctors aboard the spaceships had very limited training and the low-class soldiers were always strapped into the vertical beds and put to sleep for long trips.

Cruel as it seemed, there were numerous reasons Freezia had ordered that it be done. The spacecrafts were cheaper to make - as well as lighter weight and more fuel efficient - if they didn't have to have enough bedrooms to accomidate a whole army. The ship didn't have to provide food or entertainment for the sleeping soldiers between raids. The soldiers themselves remained more focused. The induced hibernation meant that the warriors were never really given a chance to rebel against the empire or get distracted by a social life. Plus putting the warriors to sleep meant that there was ample opportunity to search the lockers where each soldier kept their handful of personal belongings. Anything either valuable or dangerous would be taken away from them.

Toy soldiers, that's how Freezia sometimes refered to the the bulk of his army because that's precisely how the warriors were being treated. A spaceship would land on a target planet, the soldiers would be brought out for the battle and after it was done with any surviving warriors would be stacked neatly back into the high-tech equivalent of a toy box. The soldiers received no privacy, no social life and no wages. The only things that Freezias Army truly gave the low class fighters were a uniform and the chance to vent their anger by conquering alien worlds.

Of course, it was a whole different story for the higher ranked warriors. They weren't as expendable. Freezia actually seemed to value them.

With an echoing thud the room slanted. The ship had impacted the ground at an awkward angle but this was quickly corrected. Once the ship had stablized, the engines noise faded to a whirr and all the vents in the room creaked open. Two large square vents in the ceiling had fans whose blades began to rotate with increasing speed in an attempt to rid the small room of the various odors that clung to it - mold, old dust and rotting fabric. The smaller, rectangular vents that were in the walls exhaled a warm breeze and the pleasant smell of fresh-baked sweetbread.

That last part was pure psychology. Experiments had found that food smells were among the most effective when it came time to wake the warriors up. Freezia prided himself on knowing these sorts of trivial things. Psychology was an interest of Freezias, if only because it made him better able to deal with the types of customers that bought planets from him.

Six of the seven warriors in the room came to life slowly and in silence. There was nothing worth saying at this point. They didn't even look at each other, each soldier bowing their head as if ashamed to be seen this way. They preoccupied themselves with the task of unhooking all the various straps that held them in place against their mattresses mounted on the wall.

Raditz was the first to step down onto the floor, he closed his eyes and bit his bottom lip, waiting for the tingling pain to pass while blood circualation returned to his legs. He stretched his tail tenatively and rubbed some feeling back into his arms as he waited for the medical team to arrive so that they could remove the various apparatus that had helped keep him alive for the duration of the trip. Raditz took off the oxygen mask by himself but was somewhat squeamish about needles, otherwise he might have risked removing the IVs on his own.

He glanced once at the rest of the narrow room. It only took that one glance to confirm that he had no idea who any of the other warriors were. It had been a different group when he'd first been knocked out. The trip must have been a long one if they'd stopped somewhere along the way to rotate the warriors.

Rotation was another tactic designed to keep the low class soldiers from rebeling. Constantly sending the soldiers off to different commanders meant that the soldiers had no idea who their peers were most of the time. They always fought alongside a different set of soldiers. They never mourned the warriors killed in battle because the dead were strangers. So the sight of the single warrior on the wall that had failed to wake up didn't bother anyone - no one knew him. No one had any reason to care that he was dead.

It was this concept that bothered Raditz. If he'd been the one that had failed to wake up, no one would care. No one would have even known his name.

Well, not no one. Not exactly. There was one person aboard the spacecraft that would have known his name and that was the other thing that bothered Raditz. All the other warriors around him had been rotated but he hadn't. It wasn't the first time this had happened. It was becoming ever more apparent that for some unfathomable reason, Raditzs commanding officer had taken a special interest in him. Lieutenant Zarbon wanted to keep him around.

Raditz wasn't yet old enough to be sure whether this was bad or good news. It could mean a promotion in the long run or it could mean something else entirely. He didn't care to speculate about it so he mentally switched the subjects, idly thinking about the slow-motion dream sequences that he'd experienced while hibernating.

Most of his dreams weren't terribly imaginative. Raditz had just relived parts of his earlier childhood. He had a few hazy recollections of the boarding school where he'd spent most of his early life sparring with other saiyan children. Then one day things had changed. The announcement had come from King Vegeta himself, saying that the saiyan race had allied with Freezia and that the proud saiyan warriors were going to conquer planets in exchange for better technology and increased wealth.

Raditz had been nearly two years old when that announcement had been made. Being a toddler, he hadn't cared less at the time but the decision had come with consequences that affected him. Freezias representatives had moved quickly to convince King Vegeta that it would be a sign of good faith in the political relationship - as well as a wonderful educational opportunity - if a group of saiyan children were sent to attend a school on one of Freezias planets.

After some deliberation, King Vegeta had agreed to send some low-class saiyan children. Maybe the children of low-class warriors were sent because the saiyan elite didn't trust Freezia with their own offspring. Maybe the low-class warriors were sent because they were expected to eventually betray their own heritage and it would be easier to defeat bunch of third-class waifs. Whatever the reasons for the decision, it was made and acted upon. Raditz and nearly thirty of his boarding school peers had ended up attending a military institution on an alien world. Only four of those saiyan children had survived to graduation. Most of the rest had died from various alien illnesses or vicious playground battles.

Raditz wasn't sure of his age anymore - being asleep for long trips and being out in space where it was always dark had permanently distorted his sense of time. He knew that the events of his dreams had been a while ago but he couldn't be sure of how long ago. He glanced down at himself and sincerely hoped that he wasn't supposed to be a teenager yet. Raditz worried about things like this because if he _was_ a teenager then all the induced sleeping he'd done over the past few years had severly stunted his growth. For the most part, he still looked like a toddler - although a little taller, with slightly longer hair and better defined muscles.

Inwardly, Raditz sighed. It was hard to intimidate opponents when you didn't look all that scary.

These thoughts had taken only a few moments, during which time the medical group had arrived. The medical group - or at least the small part of it that had come to this room - consisted of two creatures. Each one was clad in a dark green uniform with the standard sanitary rubber gloves, hairnets and facemasks. One of the medics was tall with pale yellow skin, no eyebrows, pointed ears and a long nose. The other creatures most noticable trait was that it had four arms and no legs, it oozed around on the slimy base of its body. All that these two did was unhook the various medical equipment that had keep the warriors alive - a bunch of tubes and wires with fancy names.

Raditz was glad for the interruption. But that subdued happiness was fleeting.

The medics proceeded to stamp each of the six revived warriors with a bright orange warning symbol. They'd been in the same room as a dead guy. That meant that the six warriors that had been successfully revived would now have to be quarantined while medical tests were done to determine how many of them were sick. If any evidence was found that the dead guy had died from something that was contagious then they'd all be killed because there was no point in risking an epidemic.

As he was being herded out of the room, Raditz paused to scowl at the corpse. If the warrior hadn't already been dead then Raditz would have been tempted to kill him. He hated medical tests with a passion and a quarantine meant, among other things, that it was going to be long time before he was allowed to get something decent to eat. Much as Raditz would have liked to have resisted the medics, he really wasn't able to. His joints were still too stiff and numb from the hibernation, it was taking a considerable amount of effort just to walk without limping.

He hoped cat was okay. On his way to the infirmary, Raditz looked around for some sign of the pesky animal that had insisted on following him everywhere but there wasn't any indication that the animal was around. Usually the cat was sitting right by the door of the room, waiting there to greet Raditz when he was woken up from hibernation. The stupid animal probably got better treatment than he did. Raditz felt a mild sense of blended alarm and disappointment at the animals absence but he kept walking, reminding himself that true warriors weren't supposed to give a damn about that kind of thing.

A bit late for that though, the cat had already become important to him.

It had started out as caution. Raditz had figured that if he'd been told to keep the cat then there had to be some reason, some catch. Maybe the animal was poisoness or something, maybe that's why almost everyone else thought it was bad luck. Raditz couldn't read a word of his native language - saiyan - but he had been taught to read Common, the universal language. Common was the language that all the aliens in Freezias empire had to learn in order to communicate with each other.

Although it had been ages since he'd read anything and his reading skills had been a been rusty, Raditz had managed to get the hang of it again. True, he could have just asked for help. There were bound to be a few literate warriors around - most the flight crew could read. But Raditz had always disliked asking for help. Asking for help seemed to imply that you'd owe someone a favor later, it was just the sort of dependacy that warriors in general didn't like to be associated with. So Raditz had taken the time to brush up his reading skills and in the process, he had accidentally rediscovered the thrill of a good book.

It wasn't something that Raditz would ever admit to but he enjoyed reading. Aside from being a good way to get information, reading was kind of an escape. Raditz blamed the cat for making him realize that, for making him doubt his self-worth and wish that he was better educated. At least he had been reassured to find out that most species of cat were not known to be poisoness and that bad luck itself was mostly a myth.

Even more importantly, the cat was a time piece. A living calendar, of sorts. The cat had unwittlingly become one of the only measures of time that Raditz had. Raditz could now mentally organize everything in his own life in accordance with whatever cat had been doing at that time. For example, his early life fell under the label _before I met cat_ and he had accumulated a few scattered memories that could be labeled _when cat was small_. Part of the reason Raditz had looked forward to seeing the animal was because if cat had grown a lot then he'd know for sure that quite a bit of time must have passed.

The other main reason he had hoped to see the cat was because it was just kind of nice to have something around that could be considered a friend. Nice to know that not everyone was indifferent. En route to the infirmary, Raditz quietly shuffled by perhaps a hundred other warriors. He passed creatures of every imaginable description as he filed down the numerous hallways. Yet there was no laughter, no kidding around, nobody even spoke to each other - because none of these creatures were friends.

Raditz remembered the playgrounds where he'd been told that friendship was for weaklings, a waste of time. But anymore he wondered if maybe he'd just been taught that because none of his teachers'd had friends. Maybe friendship was a really a luxury, something that not even Freezia could buy. Raditz sincerely hoped so. That was just the sort of irony that could cheer him up. The mere idea that he, a low-class warrior, could possess something that a wealthy powerful tyrant couldn't... It just made life worth living some days.

The six tired warriors arrived at the spacecrafts quarantine room, near the infirmary. They were scheduled for medical testing. Raditz was the only one smirking.

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	3. Part Three: 744 AD

_Black Cat_

by DoraMouse

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**Part Three: 744 A.D.**

Life went on, establishing a cycle - a routine of sorts - until Raditz felt like all he had ever done was sleep, eat, take medical tests, spar and conquer planets. There were days when he felt like some sort of automated machine, hollow inside and bound to follow orders. Committed to going through the motions. He tried to convince himself, rather unsuccessfully, that it wasn't too bad of a deal really. The orders were reasonable, the army kept him alive and conquering worlds was the type of work where you knew that you were making a difference. But at the same time, if taking over worlds was all that you ever did... Then it just sort of lost meaning after a while.

The root of the problem was that Raditz was growing steadily more bored. He'd never thought it was possible that fighting would be dull but that day had come and gone. You can only vaporize so many angry self-righteous alien warriors before it starts to feel like your life is stuck in reruns with the same few scenes repeating over and over.

Anymore it seemed as if all the battles were the same. The natives of each planet were always pitifully weak and usually lived clustered together in magnificent ancient cities surrounded by durable stone walls. The walls always tended to work against the natives more than they had expected, trapping them. The few planets where the natives had advanced weaponry - meaning guns instead of swords or wooden spears with sharpened rock tips - would typically rush to send their forces out all at once and try a direct forward assault. The doomed natives were usually talented at marching in formation but that tended to be the extent of their skills.

Occasionally a variation on the pattern would happen. Freezias spacecraft might sometimes land on a planet with laser technology, aircraft, spacecraft, submarines, powerful magicians or natives that were too busy fighting with each other to notice the intruders. But the end result was always the same - Freezias Army was too experienced and too powerful to be defeated. No matter what the army ended up fighting against, they had seen it all before. The warriors working for Freezia knew how to destroy aircraft, sink ships, deflect lasers and counteract most magic. Plus the low-class warriors were expendable and Freezias Army was vast, so if the natives ever did manage to destroy one group of Freezias soldiers then another shipload of them would arrive. The more the natives resisted, the more they sealed their own grisly fates. Freezia and his higher-ranked warriors probably placed bets on how many soldiers it would take to claim certain worlds.

One thought lead to another and Raditz shuddered involuntarily. He was pacing in a narrow hallway.

Zarbon _had_ told him to keep the stupid cat for a reason. Of course, it was hardly the cats fault. Raditz mentally kicked himself - it was his fault. He should have just gotten rid of the animal. Then he wouldn't have had the chance to care about it.

While Raditz was in hibernation between missions, Zarbon took care of the cat. Or at least, he had someone do that for him because the cat seemed to have enough common sense to avoid Zarbon. The animal just really didn't like him and it was also fairly obvious that the Zarbon wasn't terribly fond of the furball either.

Zarbon was, however, fond of Raditz. By keeping the cat, Zarbon had created a perfectly valid reason to invite Raditz over to his chambers whenever he wanted. Just the way that Zarbon tended to word those invitations was embarrassing - there was always an implied double meaning. He made it seem as though Raditz owed him some sort of favor since he'd watched out for the cat.

So far Raditz had always managed to keep his visits to under twenty seconds. Just long enough to drop by, get the cat and make a hasty excuse to leave. Zarbon was getting ever more persistant though and so was the pressure. Giving in would shatter Raditzs self-esteem but it might also be his only chance to get a promotion.

Raditz was old enough to be aware that in some cultures - and most situations - where the males outnumbered the females, love between males was normal. But the general idea made him queasy. His basic attitude on this issue was similar to his outlook on religion. Raditz felt that other people could believe whatever the heck they wanted just so long as they didn't try to force any of it on him. He was a low-class soldier but Raditz still felt entitled to some rights. Choosing what he believed and who he felt like horsing around with were two of those rights.

The mere thought of being intimate with Zarbon, who was hell-only-knew how much older than him, was enough to make Raditz want to throw up. The fact that Zarbon was so smitten with the idea only made it worse. Raditz knew that if he didn't give in then sooner or later, Zarbon would just take the initiative and one of these days he'd regain consciousness in Zarbons private chambers instead of a hibernation room. It was quite likely that the only reason Zarbon hadn't already violated him was because Zarbon had other partners who were more willing to play.

Raditz made a couple quiet gagging sound effects as he paced. This had to stop, it was deeply disturbing and it just made him uncomfortable. He felt hunted. He'd rather be dead than one of Zarbons pet projects and unfortunately, that would probably be the case. Raditz was left with the sickening feeling that he couldn't address the subject in a delicate manner and expect to get the results he wanted. He'd have to risk ticking Zarbon off and if that didn't get him killed then, in the worst case scenario, it also might completely fail to make Zarbon stop liking him.

If only there was a way to stay alive, get the promotion AND get far, far away from Zarbon without effectively torching his own dignity... Raditz resisted the impulse to bang his head on a wall. The engineers had yelled at him the last time he'd done that. Walls weren't cheap to repair.

The door to Zarbons chambers was just down the corridor from where Raditz was pacing. He paused in the center of the corridor, closing his eyes and listening. Raditz could just barely make out the faint but unmistakable high-pitched screeching sound of eight claws being dragged slowly down the other side of the reinforced metal door. Cat. It was uncanny, the animal always seemed to know when he was around.

With a sigh, Raditz gradually pushed all his other thoughts aside. If cat was scratching the door then, logically, cat was by the door and so it shouldn't take long to get the animal out of there.

He gathered his courage and went to the door. There weren't any knobs, the door was sealed by some computer and you had to enter a password on a digital numberpad to get the door to open. In Raditzs opinion, this security measure seemed idiotic because it meant that anytime there was a power surge or a computer problem then all the doors remained sealed. Raditz suspected that if he ever set both feet into Zarbons chambers, the door would conveniently get jammed and he'd be trapped inside. Sure, he could always just blow the stupid door to oblivion but this particular door was actually fairly sturdy and so a feat like that might take time.

Raditz shuddered again then gathered his shaken composure and made himself knock. The few seconds before the door slid open sideways seemed to last an eternity. Raditz stood still to indicate that he clearly had no intention of going in the room and he kept his eyes down - he didn't care to see Zarbon, the interior of Zarbon chambers or anything but cat.

Cat knew this routine by now and quickly stepped out of the room as soon as the door was open far enough for the animal to fit through. Raditz scowled sideways at it, trying his best to conceal his relief by seeming like he really didn't care that much. The less he seemed to care, the less that Zarbon could make it seem as if he were owed a favor.

"Ah. There you are, I expected that you'd drop by eventually." Zarbon said with a hint of forced pleasantry.

Raditz glanced up just enough to see that Zarbon had been scratched recently and was applying a bandage to the cuts on his arm. Raditz chewed on the inside of his cheek to keep himself from grinning at the sight.

"Did you have pleasant dreams while hibernating, hmmm?" Zarbons voice dropped back into the more subtle tone he seemed to reserve for flirting. "Do come in and have a drink? I insist."

Raditz ignored Zarbon by crouching down and pretending to be mildly amazed that cat was so much bigger. It was an act but it always worked.

Cat wasn't little anymore, it hadn't been the last few times Raditz had seen it. He wasn't sure what the exact species of the animal was but apparently it wasn't quite as much of a domestic feline as he'd first assumed. Cat had gone from being a docile furball that fit in the palm of Raditzs hand to being a somewhat sassy creature that weighed nearly forty pounds. The creature had a lean, muscular body that was close to five feet long and was just over two feet tall when cat was sitting up. The faint orange freckles that had once sat in contrast to the black fur were more golden now and the markings had changed shape, taking on more diverse forms. There were gold dots on the animals head and golden orange rosettes on the back. Faint golden stripes under the eyes and on each leg. Thin bands of golden fur were set at neat intervals all down the animals tail.

Standing next to cat always made Raditz more aware of just how much the animal had grown. Cats shoulder blades were now level with Raditzs kneecaps. If cat had ever wanted to then it could have easily jumped up on its hind paws and placed its forepaws on Raditzs shoulders.

Once he'd snubbed Zarbon for just long enough to make it seem like he'd been too distracted to have heard the offer for drinks, Raditz stood and spoke with a tone of finality. "I have to go train." That was all Raditz had ever said to Zarbon in situations like this. It was a credible excuse for leaving.

He backed away for a couple steps, carefully making sure that his tail was safely out of grabbing range before turning and walking quickly away with cat bounding gracefully alongside of him. Raditz didn't know if anyone else aboard the spacecraft knew about saiyan tails generally being a weak point but it wasn't something that he wanted to risk having others find out.

The spacecraft was currently on a short trip which was why most of the low-class warriors were allowed to stay awake. Within an hour the spaceship was due to arrive on Freezia Planet 404s - the _s_ at the end of the label being used to designate the world as a slave planet. The ship would unload its cargo here. The women, children and eldery people that had been captured at the last battle would be sorted out and sold at auction to the kind of wealthy creatures that viewed planets as collectibles and lifeforms as interesting accessories.

Meanwhile the enslaved men - and anyone else that either had possessed a weapon before being captured or that had worn a recognizable warrior uniform - would be sent to the stadium for an infamous tournament. The tournament was called many things in many languages but in the universal Common language it was best known as the Tournament of Chains.

It was a tournament that was held as often as needed, usually whenever a ship arrived on the planet with a fresh load of slaves. Prisoners would be made to fight the soldiers of Freezias Army again but this time they'd fight one-on-one. Weapons were allowed and every battle was a life or death affair. The match wasn't over until one warrior had successfully murdered their opponent. Losing meant death. Winning meant being recruited into Freezias Army.

For prisoners the Tournament of Chains was a chance to gain revenge, prove their skill and become part of the empires army. For the soldiers it was also a chance to fight and to prove their skill but more a matter of job security. The soldiers had to win in order to keep their jobs and lives. Plus the tournament gave all the warriors in the army a rare chance to visit a planet that they didn't have to conquer or destory. With the tournament going on there would be opportunities for even low-class warriors to get some good food, hear the latest news from around the universe and sleep out under the stars.

So Raditz did actually have to train, it wasn't just an excuse for once. He might be one of the low-class soldiers picked at random to represent Freezias Army and he had to be prepared. Raditz wasn't too concerned about the prisoners posing a threat but there was always the off chance that he could - because it sometimes happened - be pitted against another soldier.

As soon as they were out of sight and out of hearing range of Zarbon, Raditz permitted himself a relieved grin. "Good cat." He muttered under his breath. As an afterthought, he half-jokingly added. "But next time, you've got to scratch 'em where it counts..."

* * *


	4. Part Four: 754 AD

_Black Cat_

by DoraMouse

* * *

**Part Four: 754 A.D.**

Raditz had never expected the cat to take him literally. He still wasn't sure whether it had been a sheer accident or if cat was much more intelligent than he'd realized. He was more careful about what he said to cat now, in case the latter turned out to be the case.

The incident had happened ten years ago, at that fateful Tournament of Chains. Raditz hadn't been picked to fight in the tournament but he'd been allowed to watch. All the soldiers were allowed to watch. The warriors were encouraged to cheer on their peers even though they usually didn't know their peers and could relate to the slaves.

Several ships had landed on the slave planet within a few hours of each other so it was decent sized crowd at the stadium. Raditz had been sitting in the audience with cat, calmly threatening to rearrange someones vital organs.

Other warriors always made insulting remarks when they saw him with cat, Raditz had been used to that by then. A bit of threatening banter and a slight power-up was all it usually took to scare the hecklers off. However, this particular moron hadn't left and also hadn't stopped at insulting cat. The alien soldier had begun to insult saiyans. The alien had gone so far as to claim that the saiyan world didn't even exist anymore, that saiyans were a dead species - which was absolutely ridiculous. More of an insult than Raditz could tolerate. He'd punched the idiot across the stadium and the alien had made a nice dent in the wall before getting up.

Their scuffle had interferred with the main battle so it had been broken up because after all, everyone was on a schedule. It just wouldn't do to delay the tournament. Raditz and his opponent had been seized and dragged aside by numerous other soldiers. The stadium manager had summoned their commanding officers. It had been degrading, the warriors were treated as if they were kids and the school principal was calling their parents to report their misbehavior. Zarbon had arrived promptly. The other commander, a spikey pink humanoid blob called Dodoria, had taken his time.

Once everyone had arrived a bit of arguing had ensued about what exactly had happened and who was at fault. Raditz had mostly stayed out of the debate. He hadn't trusted himself to speak at the time and he didn't care to make whatever punishment was pending worse.

Cat had been content to simply sit out of sight, watching. Apparently though the animal had grown tired of being both ignored and insulted. Zarbon happened to be closest to where the cat was sitting when the animal abruptly decided that it needed a scratching post capable of screaming bloody murder.

Havoc had followed but Raditz had managed to grab the stupid animal in time to prevent it from being killed. Zarbon had been the only one attacking and also the only one that found his own current condition unamusing. Everyone else had been grinning, Dodoria and the stadium manager had started laughing aloud at the sight. The alien soldier that had been insulting cat earlier had withdrawn his previous remarks and even apologized without much in the way of hard feelings.

Zarbon had limped off with one entire leg shredded from the hip down to the ankle. He'd sworn that to get revenge but thankfully, so far, it had been an empty threat. The stadium manager, who was also the commander of Freezia Planet 404s, had decided that Raditz and cat should both stay on the planet and Dodoria had supported the decision.

Raditz had never been so glad of anything in his entire life.

He'd spent the last ten years on a planet instead of aboard a cramped spaceraft. No more induced sleep. No more stunted growth. No more lack of a social life. No more nearly starving to death or conquering planets. He still didn't get paid to be in Freezias Army but that hardly mattered, his quality of life had improved dramatically. Raditz had put on some weight and gotten much stronger due to having plenty of opportunties to spar. He hadn't taken any kind of a medical test in years - he hadn't needed to. He had been given his own room. True, it was a small unfurnished room in a lookout tower but it was all his. Raditz had even begun to recover his sense of time.

Raditz was a guard now, it was his job to help keep the slaves in order. Cat could even come to work with him most of the time. They'd walk around, patrolling. Keeping an eye on things. Cats natural hunter instincts were almost as good as Raditzs own, fugitives and troublemakers very rarely escaped their attention.

In general - life was great, almost perfect. There had only ever been one little snag in Raditzs happiness: the insult. Ridiculous as it seemed, what if it was true? What if the saiyan world didn't exist anymore? What if he was one of the only saiyans left alive? That thought almost constantly nagged at him. It had always been a point of pride for Raditz to remind himself that unlike most of Freezias Army, he hadn't ever technically been a slave - his world hadn't been conquered. He was only a member of Freezias Army because of some political agreement that had been struck between the saiyan King and a handful of Freezias representatives.

Deep down, Raditz had always subconsciously expected to be able to go home someday. He had told cat all about the place and had sometimes daydreamed about being able to bask in the collective pride of saiyan culture again. Just to be around warriors that hadn't had their spirits broken would be such a welcome change. The thought that maybe he could never go home had haunted Raditz for the last ten years. Why would anyone even joke about the saiyan world not existing? What could have happened?

Raditz was currently in his early twenties and sitting in his room. He finally had some answers. Most of the news was not good.

Standing in his room were two visitors that were unusual if only because they'd come to visit Raditz specifically. The older of the two was a tall, bulky saiyan with a fading red mustache and a bald head. He'd had to duck to enter the room. He had introduced himself as Nappa, saiyan elite and general of the combined saiyan army. Nappa had the nervous habit of twirling the ends of his mustache while he spoke.

Raditz was painfully aware that being spoken to at all by a saiyan elite was cause for concern. Traditionally, elite warriors didn't even look directly at lower class soldiers so the sheer act of Nappa speaking to him signaled a drastic change in the saiyan culture.

Understatement of the century.

According to Nappa, the saiyan world was in fact gone. It had been gone for seventeen years now. Apparently a large meteor had struck without warning, instantly obliterating the planet as well as everyone on it. Nappa didn't sound like he really believed that story and the shorter warrior standing next to Nappa had also snorted in disgust.

Throughout the limited conversation, Raditz did his best to respectfully ignore the shorter saiyan. Raditz felt that he wasn't supposed to acknowledge royalty because any acknowledgment he could give would seem like pity. The Prince would probably just be insulted by it. Besides, it was bit intimidating. Warriors generally didn't have planets named after themselves without first establishing some sort of reputation. The name Vegeta had long been associated with powerful saiyan leadership. The dynasty of saiyan Kings who'd gone by the name had been regarded as gods within their own culture.

Which meant of course, that if anyone was affected by the lost of the saiyan home world then it was the Prince Vegeta. Raditz had lost a lot too but he figured that losing an entire kingdom, the right to rule and all the perks of being treated with respect - that had to be a hundred times worse. So Raditz made a point not to complain, not to overreact, ask many questions or display his emotions very much when the bad news was given to him.

Prince Vegeta was silent for the most part. The Prince stood rigidly in the shadow of his trusted general and seemed so absorbed in his own thoughts that at times he gave the impression of being far away, barely aware of his current surroundings. Raditz privately wondered if the Prince could remember the saiyan world as it had once been, in all its glory. Vegeta seemed a tad too young to have clear memories of the planet that had shared his name.

Nappa was now explaining, in a bored tone, that they didn't really know how many saiyans were still alive. Due to the distances between worlds, being busy with their own missions and the general lack of surviving records - it had taken them some time just to learn of Raditzs existance and track him down. This made the logic behind their visit more obvious. Raditz had quickly realized that these elite saiyans didn't care much about his well-being, they were just trying to find out if he knew of any surviving saiyans that they didn't know about. Perhaps they were looking for someone important.

The surprise twist in this otherwise dull explanation came at the end of the short speech.

"Seems you have a brother." Nappa said casually.

It was the first time that Raditz had heard of any such thing. He tensed, sitting up more rigidly but wasn't quite sure what to say.

Nappa continued. "By our records he's younger than you and still a low-class bloodline but pure saiyan nonetheless."

Raditzs mind was racing. A brother. A little brother. Amazing and... This brother, he must be alive somehow. They wouldn't have mentioned him if they didn't think he was alive. But still - maybe this was some sort of trick. Maybe the elites just wanted to get Raditz to volunteer to go look for someone that might not actually exist. Who knew. Cautiously Raditz shrugged and said. "That's the first I've heard about any siblings."

"Not surprising. If my memory serves then your parents were off-planet frequently." Nappa speculated before getting back to the facts. "His name's Kakarott. 'Bout 17 years ago, he was sent off to single-handedly conquer some dinky planet called Earth."

Raditz coughed as a new set of realizations dawned on him, he was seeing some connections. Seventeen years ago... So his brother had left planet Vegeta the same year that the planet had been destroyed. "Are you implying that my little brother betrayed our planet?"

"Would have been hard for a newborn." Nappa said dryly.

Vegeta sighed in impatience but said nothing, staring up at the wooden ceiling beams where cat was perched. Cat seemed most comforable in high places. The animal enjoyed looking down at others.

Raditz blinked. This was getting absurd. "Oh. So you're saying that my brother was an infant and yet they sent him to destroy a world on his own." Raditzs expression and tone of voice protrayed what he was feeling which was along the lines of a bitingly sarcastic: _Yea, right. That makes so much more sense. Gee, why didn't I think of that?_

Nappa arced an eyebrow, perhaps slightly offended by the tone. "That was just a cover. Obviously. Your little brother was sent away from the planet shortly _before_ your father launched a suicidal solo mission of some sort. There's enough information to imply that your fathers attack may have either delayed or provoked the destruction of planet Vegeta. In either case, we think that your father might have placed a few other items into your brothers spacepod. The Prince would like those items back."

Hearing the information and believing it were two different things. It was a lot of information to digest - too much to really sink in, too much to believe all at once. To suddenly find out that you have a little brother and that your father was some sort of insane criminal that may have contributed to the destruction of your home world. It was all so farfetched. Almost rehearsed.

Raditz was beginning to wonder if Nappa had told this exact same story to every other surviving saiyan they'd tracked down so far. He wondered what sort of item could be so important. And if the item was so important then why didn't the elite warriors just go fetch it themselves? There had to be some special risks involved...

Vegeta finally said something, he sounded a bit surprised and was still gazing upwards. "Where did the reverse ocelot come from? They aren't native to this place are they?"

Raditz glanced up at cat, curious. Since when did royalty know anything about animals? And what was he supposed to do now? It would be impolite to ignore the question but by tradition it was also impolite to address the Prince. Raditz solved this dilemma by facing Nappa as he spoke. "Got it a few years ago on some alien planet. I don't remember which one."

Nappa didn't have much trouble reaching up and lifting cat out of the ceiling beams for closer examination. Cat, as usual, didn't act threatened. The animal was content to give Nappa the same sort of visual head-to-toe inspection that Nappa was giving it. "These are rare you know." Nappa said seriously, "This things hide is probably worth more than all of our lives combined."

"Doubtful. That cat has made some enemies in its lifetime." Raditz scoffed.

Nappas eyes widened slightly and he chuckled, looking at cat with renewed appreciation. "Would this happen to be the accursed furball I've heard so many stories about? Ripped up a certain arrogant blue elf?"

"The very same." Raditz nodded. "Saved my life."

Nappa grinned. "Well, well." He addressed the animal, "Not bad. If you were a saiyan, I'd be tempted to make you an honorary elite."

"Hmph." Even Vegeta seemed mildly impressed.

Now this was real, this was sincere. This much of the conversation couldn't have been planned out in advance. Raditz found himself on a level playing field, so to speak - at a card table where all the cards were down. He felt more able to trust his elite saiyan visitors and he couldn't help but smirk as well. It was good to know that the story of Zarbons humiliation had circulated throughout the universe, made Raditz feel avenged for all the stress he'd been put through growing up.

"Maybe we should just take the cat." Nappa suggested in such a way that it was hard to determine whether he was kidding or not. "I'd love to see if it can give us an encore, on Freezia perhaps."

"If it could, I'd gladly give it the crown." Vegeta muttered.

The crown...

Raditz blinked as the mental puzzle pieces clicked into place. In the name of all that was sacred - the crown! The ceremonial saiyan crown. The saiyan Kings had always been warriors so the ceremonial crown was usually kept around the palace on display most of the time since it wasn't a terribly practical piece of jewelery to wear. Despite being kept in the palace, the crown probably wouldn't have been heavily guarded because only a complete moron would attempt to steal the royal status symbol from a palace full of elite warriors. If stolen, the crown was the sort of item that would be instantly missed.

It was the sort of item that might keep Princes from being Kings.

Raditz mentally cursed. Of course! It was so clear now. His father must have at some point stolen the crown and stuffed it into the spacepod with his little brother. Which meant that his little brother, who was age 17 if he was even still alive, had the ceremonial saiyan crown and might not even be aware of the importance of what he had. So Nappa and Prince Vegeta, saiyan elite, had tracked Raditz down in person because they needed him to go locate his little brother and coax the guy into handing the sacred item over so that a certain Prince could be coronated.

Maybe Nappa and Vegeta hadn't even looked for any other surviving saiyans. Heck, for all Raditz knew, the saiyan world still existed and Prince Vegeta was just staging some complicated political revolt against the King.

Raditz considered. Hoax or not, this story had captured his interest and his curiousity. Logically though, if he did really have a little brother and if his father had added a few things to the spacepod then somewhere... There had to be a note. A little note from his father that explained things, a note written in Common since the infant Kakarott would probably never learn to read saiyan.

What it came down to was that Raditz didn't feel that he had much to lose.

At the most Raditz stood to gain a brother, the saiyan crown, the respect of two saiyan elites, the chance to become an honorary elite himself and perhaps even a short written explanation of what had really been going on as far as politics on planet Vegeta were concerned. At the very least, he'd gain a trip to some place called Earth and find nothing. The worst case scenarios involved dying and getting lost in space - both of which seemed like tired old cliches to Raditz. Death and being lost always posed threats, always had and always would. Raditz had faced that kind of potential danger so often in his life that it didn't even seem dangerous anymore.

"Do you have the coordinates for this planet Earth?" Raditz asked. Simply asking such a question implied that he was accepting this mission and willing to cooperate for now.

"I have to warn you, it will be a very long trip from here." Nappa said, he put the cat down so that he could refocus his attention on the scheming at hand. "Even in the craft we've gotten for you, it could take as much as five years to reach Earth and that's only if you don't stop to take breaks anywhere. Which you will have to. The ships fuel supply is only good for one year, you'll have to make stops to refuel."

So they'd even gone to the trouble of getting him a spacecraft and planning his route. That was a little more than Raditz had expected.

And at least five years of travel... That explained a few things as well. For one thing, it explained why Vegeta and Nappa seemed anxious to have him leave as soon as possible. It also explained why Raditz had to be the one to make the trip. Vegeta and Nappa were saiyan elite so that made them slightly more valuable to Freezias Army, they might be missed if they disappeared for years at a time. Raditz, on the other hand, was still mostly just a face in a crowd - an expendable low-class soldier. Raditz liked to think that staff of Freezia Planet 404s would notice if he up and left for a few years but the truth was that they might not.

Leaving didn't even pose that much of an obstacle. Planetbound soldiers got rotated from time to time too so it wouldn't be all that hard for Raditz to tell his commanders that he'd recieved special orders to go elsewhere. The presence of the spaceship would help that claim.

There was only one worthwhile question left for Raditz to ask.

"This spacecraft... Is there room for cat?"

* * *


	5. Part Five: October 12th, 761 AD

_Black Cat_

by DoraMouse

* * *

**Part Five: October 12th, 761 A.D.**

Earth. It had taken seven years to reach the stupid mudball of a planet. for the most part, the trip had been uneventful yet Raditz had remained nervous.

Seven years was a lot of time, a person could do all kinds of thinking in that sort of time. Raditz had spent the past seven years wondering just what his father and his alleged brother had inadvertantly gotten him into. Wondering if he was being followed, tracked. Trying to decide what to say when he finally met his so-called brother, what to think, what to do. Who to trust. Trying to figure out what everyones roles were in this political game... What was Prince Vegeta really up to? What was Nappas stake in this? Was Freezia involved? Was Zarbon? Was it all just an elaborate trap, a setup? Did the saiyan world actually still exist or was he one of the last remaining saiyans alive?

Raditz really didn't know. Because of this uncertainty, he had become rather paranoid and bitter over time. He'd been more than a little cranky when he'd finally reached the planet that was apparently Earth. It was at the coordinates they'd given him for Earth anyway but he'd never been to Earth before so Raditz wasn't sure. The planet itself wasn't much to look at and most of the natives seemed both annoying and weak - just like most planets that he'd ever set foot on. In a way, it reminded Raditz of his planet conquering days.

Cat had been glad to arrive though. The animal had done some stretches before trotting off. It was likely that cat was hungry and had gone to see if this world had anything worth hunting. Raditz had let cat go. It was no big deal. Raditz was glad the cat could take of itself, that made it easier to think of cat as a true friend - an equal instead of a dependant. Besides, cat always came back. The animal seemed to be able to track Raditz.

Seven stupid years... Wasted.

Raditz heaved a ragged gasping breath, trying to swallow the air but choking on the blood that was seeping from his mouth and nose. His blood. This was not how he'd expected to die.

He'd found a few warriors residing on the planet but even the strongest of them hadn't been half of Raditzs own power. And that one, that strongest one, had looked disturbing familiar. Raditz hadn't grown up in the company of his parents but he did have a few scattered memories of them and that was enough to know Kakarott was the spitting image of their father, Bardock.

Raditz had gone with same pity story the saiyan elite had given him - the one about the saiyan world being gone and being one of the last members of the saiyan race. While Raditz wasn't sure if he fully believed that story, it was the most dramatic one he could think of and so he'd told it. He'd been watching the reactions, trying to figure out how much Kakarott knew.

What Raditz had been dismayed to rapidly discover was that his so-called little brother was positively clueless.

Kakarott had introduced himself as Son Goku. The guy hadn't even known what a saiyan was before Raditz had explained it, so it seemed highly unlikely that Kakarott would be able to provide any answers. That had been an incredible disappointment. Raditz had hoped for someone that could help him make sense out of things, someone that understood the logic of their fathers actions and that might know the location of a couple important artifacts. But Kakarott hadn't even had the brains to keep his saiyan tail. In name, appearance and behavior he'd symbolically disowned the entire saiyan culture. The very nature of Kakarotts existance had been an to insult Raditzs saiyan pride.

Kakarott could be blamed, he was an adult. Even if Kakarott had been just an infant when he'd been sent away, it seemed to Raditz that Kakarott should have made some effort to discover the nature of his origins.

There had also been a little boy with a tail, Kakarotts child. Raditzs nephew. The kid couldn't be held responsible for his own ignorance but that ignorance had to be corrected. Raditz had taken the boy away by force, intending to give the kid a proper saiyan name and raise him in a place where he would never ever have to worry about any Earth weaklings pressuring him to rip his tail out when he was older.

It turned out that Kakarott had actually retained one saiyan trait - he was very protective of his family. Kidnapping the boy had lead to a series of fights which had ended a few moments ago, when a pair of radiant streams of crimson energy had collided with and then pierced Raditzs chest. Kakarott had voluntarily sacrificed himself by holding Raditz in place, the blast had drilled through both of them. His own brother - the guy Raditz had traveled for seven years just to talk to, a guy he'd only met an hour ago - had effectively gotten him killed.

As he was dying, Raditzs last few coherant thoughts dwindled on the boy that was his nephew. He worried about that kid. What did Earthlings know about saiyan health? Was the boy even aware of the moonbeam induced were-monkey transformation all saiyans had? Who would teach the boy about his proud heritage? Who would tell him about the saiyan culture, the saiyan planet?

Vegeta. Raditz had initially been thinking of his home world but he remembered just then that the Prince was still out there.

Before departing, Nappa had given Raditz a scouter and a headset. The scouter was a nifty piece of technology worn like an eyepatch that had allowed Raditz to see an opponents fighting power just by looking at in their direction. The headset has been rigged so that Nappa and Vegeta could communicate with Raditz and keep track of his mission. The saiyan elite, true to traditions and probably also so as not to draw attention to themselves, hadn't ever said much to Raditz. But if they had been listening...

Maybe they'd overheard everything. Maybe they'd come to Earth to search for the crown. Maybe they'd be interested in some artifacts that the evil green warrior had mentioned, saying that he could revive Kakarott with them.

"Avenge me." Raditz hissed into his headset, closing his eyes and wincing as much from the pain as from the agonizing numbness that was swiftly overtaking his body. "Save the boy. Find cat."

Those were Raditzs last words. His vision and hearing got steadily worse before slipping into non-existance. The numbness robbed him of the ability to control his own movements, to draw breath. Raditz struggled at the end, trying to maintain some sense of feeling so that he'd know he was still alive but the pain wore him down. His strength left him but it wasn't until his resolve crumbled that he died.

In the space of the few moments he'd spent dying Raditz had gone through shock, anger, denial, helplessness and sadness - all the regular emotions associated with death. He'd reached acceptance by the end. He'd died figuring that he'd likely see his father in hell and get all the answers to his questions there. His only regret was that he'd never gotten to say goodbye to cat.

Raditzs slow death was mostly overlooked because of Gokus passing but both saiyan warriors died in the presence of witnesses.

Not much was said, Gokus friends were in shock. They'd come to regard Goku as invincable so seeing him dead left them speechless. Piccolo was the first to leave the battlefield, he departed carrying the unconscious form of Gohan and mentioned plans to train the child. Bulma was there, more somber than usual. Krillen seemed pained and Master Roshi was quiet as he leaned on his walking stick.

Krillen was the first to speak up. "We should bury them." He said softly. Krillen had been raised as a monk so he felt very strongly that it was part of his religious duty to give the spirits of the dead an honorable send off. But more than that... A funeral would be closure, it would make the unbelievable situation more real.

"We can wish them back." Master Roshi reminded him, "Goku's never died before."

There was a pause during which time an unspoken conversation took place between the gathered friends. Perhaps they could also wish Gokus brother back but...did they really want to? It would mean an uncle for Gohan, a brother-in-law for ChiChi and having to live around a guy that was more dangerous than anything else they'd ever heard of. Piccolo and Goku, former enemies, had needed to work together to defeat Raditz and even then the battle had been hard for them.

Besides, the dragonballs could only grant one wish at a time. In that sense, Raditz never really had a chance at being revived. The people that had the power to collect the dragonballs and make the wish were Gokus friends, it practically went without saying that they'd be wishing back Goku.

"We should bury _him_ anyway then." Krillen eventually persisted, scowling slightly.

Earlier, Raditz had flicked Krillen through a wall of the Kame House. The injuries Krillen had gotten from that attack hadn't been too severe but it had taken him a while to recover - and repair the hole in the wall - so in effect, Raditzs attack had prevented Krillen from being at the final showdown.

Krillen couldn't help but wonder if things should have worked out differently, if perhaps his presence at the battle could have kept his best friend alive. This train of thought caused Krillen to have some bitter feelings towards Raditz, a funeral seemed like more than the bully deserved. But still... A life was a life. And there was probably some reason that Raditz was a bully. Krillen sighed inwardly, looking away from the body as he reminded himself of these things.

The single most disturbing thing about Raditz for the Earthlings was simply that Raditz looked too much like one of their other friends. Another warrior they knew was tall and had long dark hair... Krillen hoped that he'd never have to see Yamucha with a hole punched through his midsection.

"Hangon." Bulma knelt down and gently removed Raditzs scouter, seeming a bit squeamish. "Might be useful." She said nervously, wiping some blood off the device with a tissue, "Doubt he'll need it anymore."

It was starting to get dark outside by the time the Earthlings finally did depart, heading for Capsule Corp so that Bulma could get her dragonball radar. They had capsulized Gokus body for safekeeping and buried Raditz. His gravesite was on the battlefield where he had died and was marked by a medium sized rock that had only '_Son Raditz. Died October 12th, 761 A.D._' carved into one of the stones naturally flat surfaces.

They hadn't known his last name so they'd just given him Gokus. It was their subtle way of making peace and sort of projecting the idea that there was the slightest chance that maybe Raditz would have seemed like a better person if they'd had a chance to get to know him.

* * *


	6. Part Six: 763 AD

_Black Cat_

by DoraMouse

* * *

**Part Six: 763 A.D.**

The sky was awash with color - reds, yellows and oranges lingered near the distant horizon, fading into pale blue, dark purple and sheer black further up. The natural landscape was peaceful, quiet and filled with the sort of dignified presence that tends to be a result of age.

A sunset.

Vegeta had seen countless sunsets in his lifetime and regardless of the planet he was on, it was always the same type of view. Whether on the saiyan world or some alien planet - a sunset was a sort of universal expereince, something that almost everyone could understand or relate to. True, there had been planets with multiple suns or abnormally long nights but those kinds of traits had just seemed to make the sunsets on those worlds all the more noteworthy.

He was on Earth now, he had been for a few months. It was the second time that Vegeta had ever been on this planet and while he felt stranded, it wasn't a total loss. He was alive again anyway. That was more than he'd expected to get from the humans, a second chance at life. Plus they'd tried to kill Freezia for him.

Vegeta scowled as he hovered. He'd wanted to kill Freezia on his own. Vegeta didn't know what to expect from these Earthlings but he knew that they'd have some favors to ask of him eventually since he did owe them now. It was a debt of honor and he wanted to be free of that debt. He had his own plans, his own life to get on with after all. Vegeta wished that the Earthlings would make up their minds already and just ask him to do something so that he could get on with his life. He wasn't sure what to do with himself in the meantime.

The silly blue-haired girl that seemed to follow Earths better warriors around had offered him a place to stay. The offer had been tempting since it looked like she lived in a palace but she'd also taken in around sixty namek refugees. So Vegeta had declined. He wasn't going to push his luck by hanging around a batch of green creatures that he'd previously murdered.

Speaking of luck...

Surviving in the wild wasn't all that hard. Camping, hunting, being independant - Vegeta had done it plenty of times before. He'd kept wandering, moving his camp site often in case the half-saiyan brat or tall namek changed their minds about letting him stay alive. And the deeper into the forest Vegeta had gone, the more often he'd stumbled across pawprints.

Raditzs final words had been utterly scambled by static but Vegeta had occasionally wondered, out of sheer curiosity, if the reverse ocelot was still alive.

As he drifted downward Vegeta glanced around, scanning the area and trying to decide which spot looked most comfortable. He usually slept in trees. Being off the ground meant that you were a little bit harder to see and in some cases, harder to reach.

Abruptly Vegeta blinked and squinted in a certain direction. Then he flew off in pursuit of something. Not flying at full speed since he would pass whatever he was chasing if he went too fast.

Vegeta couldn't have had any idea that roughly 26 years ago, a spacepod containing a saiyan infant had landed in this very forest.

The chase ended at a small wooden shack that was surrounded by giant weeds. The cat disappeared inside, jumping nimbly through a hole where the wall had been forced aside by the roots of a plant whose vines covered the hut and almost seemed to hold the meager structure together. Vegeta was intrigued - this place could definately be more comfortable than sleeping in trees. The creaky door came off its rusted hinges at his touch but he remained cautiously optimistic.

Inside, the place was lit by rays of fading sunlight that shone down through the cracks in the ceiling and the walls. The floor was carpeted by a green moss that had little yellow flowers and the whole place was heavily perfumed by the various native plants that had reclaimed the area. The few pieces of furniture present were covered in dust and had plants growing either on or around them. A bundle of black fur dotted with gold markings was perched atop of a sturdy retangular metal box that was held shut by an oversized padlock.

"Hmmm." Vegeta flicked the lock. It crumbled to dust. "Lets see what you've found."

He only had to start to lift the lid of the box before the cat took the hint and went to sit elsewhere. Out of habit, Vegeta gingerly threw the lid back and quickly stepped away from the box, as if half expecting it to explode or contain some other sort of trap. The lid of the box squeaked, swinging on its hinges but nothing else happened.

Vegeta cautiously peered into the box. He found a lot of paperwork with writing in the Common language. At a glance, it looked like most of the stuff was the correspondance of someone called Gohan. Vegeta flinched then assured himself that it couldn't mean the Gohan that he knew. Some of the letters were dated and there was just no way the brat was that old.

Under all the papers were a few other items - some books, a photo album, a sword and a handful of assorted trinkets. And a blanket that was wrapped around something.

Vegeta tugged at a corner of the cloth, trying to get an idea of what the item was without unwrapping it. He was startled to catch a glimpse of his own familys emblem, inlaid in ivory on a framework of silver that was studded with precious stones.

The ceremonial saiyan crown.

Vegeta hadn't seen this thing since he'd been four or five years old but he recognized it instantly. Back then, when he'd been five, the crown had been kept on a short velvet pedestal in the throne room of the saiyan palace. Now, 26 years later, here he was pulling the very same crown out of some tiny abandoned hut on an alien planet.

He unwrapped the crown and sat in awe of it for a while, thinking about how much things had changed in his lifetime. And they had to change more.

Vegetas expression became determined, he lifted the crown and walked with it out of the hut. A carefully aimed energy blast leveled a tree. The Prince placed the crown on the tree stump and proceeded to cut the wood into smaller pieces. Though it was getting ever darker outside, the task didn't take long. Vegeta had soon built a pyre around the tree stump. He lit the pyre and stood watching in defiant silence as the flames licked against the metal.

Prince. That royal title was a source of pride. But King - that title could be nothing more than a burden.

If you were a King then you had to live your life in accordance with the cultures traditions, you had to live in the shadows of your ancestors achievements. It was as if you were just a puppet and everyone would always compare your preformances to the acts given by previous Kings.

Being a King meant having to get married to a noble women for political reasons by a certain age - Vegeta was already well past that age - and you had to raise a heir. Vegeta knew from the experience of being a heir that this essentially meant turning your own kid into your worst nightmare. Vegeta wasn't interested in raising kids, much less ones that wanted to kill him. Having a family in general was unappealing. Family meant having to compromise - having to be what someone else wanted you to be instead of being yourself. King... You had to have a good image, a few people you could trust and allies that respected you. There were all sorts of pressures and expectations.

Vegeta didn't want to deal with any of that. He was content to be a Prince, to be solitary and above all, to be himself. There was no point in trying to be King. He didn't trust anyone, he didn't have any political allies and he didn't really have anyone to rule anyway. There couldn't be more than handful of saiyans still alive and those were scattered out across the universe. Most of the survivors would probably never even realize that their homeworld was gone.

He was almost free.

Raditz was dead. Freezia was hopefully dead. Nappa was dead. Vegeta had killed Nappa - the only other saiyan elite he'd known of and the only person qualified to crown him as King. So there was just one saiyan left that concerned Vegeta, one warrior that might know about the crown and that might eventually somehow try to force him into being a King. Only one warrior that might try to convince him to take on the daunting chore of restoring their culture. Kakarott.

Vegetas scowl deepened.

So the one threat left to his personal freedom was an idiot that was too strong to die easily. Kakarott was supposed to be a low-class warrior but instead he had turned out to be legendary. It might prove a challenge for Vegeta to kill him. Although... Kakarott hadn't returned to Earth yet so maybe he was still battling Freezia or maybe that battle had killed both of them - Vegeta could only hope. If he didn't get news soon, he was going to have to find a way to return to space and learn what had happened.

The crown eventually began to melt, taking on several deformed and twisted poses as it was slowly reduced to a glittering puddle. Vegeta speeded the process along with a few small energy blasts before stomping out the silvery ashes and retiring to a tree branch. The hut was okay but it needed to air out - all the plant smells aggravated his senses.

Between having watched the fire and then being asleep, the Prince didn't notice a sleek dark shadow slipping in and out of the hut. This continued through the night. The cat walked on padded feet, hardly making a sound as it relocated every single one of the other items that had been in the box.

When sunrise came, the box sat empty and the cat was nowhere in sight.

Later that day, a young boy would go outside for a bit. He'd playfully chase his purple pet dragon around and because of the game of tag, he'd eventually be guided to the cave where the possessions were. Gohan would always wonder why the belongings of an adoptive great-grandfather that he'd never met had been in a pile in a cave outside his home. And he'd always wonder how Icarus had known to lead him there.

But, a little more than anything else, he'd always wonder what sort of creature he'd seen walking so nimbly across the tree branches outside the cave. With the amount of the studying that Gohan had done in his life, he had been mildly surprised to see an animal whose species he didn't recognize. It had been some kind of giant black cat...

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**Dedication**

This story is dedicated to the two silent Looney Tunes characters that inadvertantly inspired it: the bulldog Mark Anthony and the adorable but nameless little Black Kitten that changes his life. May all of us be so fortunate as to have our bad luck come to us in such a likeable form.

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**Authors Afterword**

Often times when I can not find a story that fills a certain blank, I write one. This story is an example of that habit of mine.

Please do forgive the shortness of this story. I realize that I have spanned approxmiately 26 years (the chapter titles were the years) in six parts. There are many reasons I did it this way but the main reason I wrote the story this way is because I am busy working on several other projects.

Raditzs age is not, to my knowledge, officially specified aside from the fact that he is older than Goku. However in case it helps anyone to picture him, for this story I've placed Raditz as being born in the year 730 A.D. Which means thatRaditz is 2 years older than Vegeta, 7 years older than Goku and 27 years older than Gohan. It also means that Raditz is shown as being around age 7 in the first chapter of this story, age 9 in chapter two, age 13 in chapter three, age 24 in chapter four and dying at the age of 31 in chapter five. He's been dead for about a year and half by the time chapter six takes place.

The story dates I've used fit with the official timelines.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this short story.

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